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Hannah Returns: Responding to Comments on Women’s Colleges

By Hannah Smith November 18, 2009 12:02 pmNovember 18, 2009 12:02 pm

Hannah Smith

Hannah Smith is a senior at University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, La., who is currently applying to colleges. Here she responds to the more than 300 comments on an essay she wrote about her interest in women’s colleges, which was posted on The Choice.

I am grateful for the number of people who commented on my blog entry, “A Young Champion of Women’s Colleges.” It was especially heartening to hear from the alumnae of women’s colleges across the country, who spoke so highly of their choice many years after graduation.

Although many comments seemed to have been addressed by other commenters, I would like to clarify several things.

First, I would like to address all the people who were offended by my use of the word “girls.” Every time I used the word “girls,” I was referring to high school students. I am a 16-year-old senior, and I was always taught that “women” and “men” are referred to as such when they reach the age of 18. It may have also been used in quotations from something someone else had said.

One comment posed this question: “Why are you so confident that those ‘not good enough’ grades will get you into Wellesley or Smith?”

While my grades are not perfect, they are very good. Plus, I have an interesting extracurricular life. I have no doubt I will be competing with the best of the best at any of the Seven Sisters, but statistics don’t lie, and if acceptance rates are higher, my chances are better.

Another comment picked up on my reference to myself as “a flaming heterosexual,” with the commenter writing: “The heterosexual comment bothered me as well. Women’s colleges are supportive of all women, regardless of whether they are straight, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.”

Although I do consider myself heterosexual, I am in no way homophobic. I was trying to challenge the stereotype that the only women applying to these institutions were homosexual.

In my post, I had written: “My friend, Guy, looked at me like I had told him I’d eaten nails for breakfast. ‘You’re looking at all girls’ colleges? Are you crazy?’ ”

That sentence prompted this comment: “I find Ms. Smith’s choice to use the name ‘Guy’ very clever. Was this deliberate irony or simply his real name?”

I hadn’t realized the irony in “Guy” until I read this comment, but this is simply my friend’s real name.

Although I am still undecided as to where I will be attending college next year, all of the comments will factor into my decision.

For those of you who wish to keep the conversation going on women’s colleges, please use the comment box below.

I am currently a senior at Mount Holyoke College, and am thrilled with the fact that I ended up at an all-women’s school. (By the way, I’m sure your grades are much better than mine were, and I still got in! Most progressive admissions officers are beginning to understand that students should not be judged using GPA alone.) I found it brave of you to post your opinions on a public forum, and would like to say that I found your witty jabs at stereotypes entertaining, and certainly not offensive. Good luck in your application process!

Hannah,
I’m so glad to see your perspective on women’s college in a public forum. I appreciate your ideas and your courage in posting your ideas here. As you stated in your previous entry, only 2% of high school students surveyed on the SATs consider attending women’s colleges, so I am really happy to hear that you are applying!

I’m so glad that there are high school students such as yourself sharing your thoughts on women’s colleges. I graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2008, and I can say, with confidence, that choosing to attend MHC was the best decision I ever made. MHC opened up so many opportunities, and it was truly a close knit community in which I could pursue my interests in a supportive atmosphere. Best of luck with the college search process, and of course, I would love it if you chose MHC!

An excellent first essay, an excellent response to your comments, and an excellent choice of prospective colleges.

Alumnae honor requires that I balance all that Mount Holyoke spirit by wishing you luck in your admissions elsewhere in the Five College Consortium–I had a fabulous education at Smith (with my junior year spent in Paris) and I am sure that you would thrive there!

Hooray for women’s colleges and their applicants. I look forward to hearing about your decision process. Best of luck–and enjoy relaxing during your Thanksgiving break. You deserve it!

Hannah,
Congratulations to you for knowing what you want and going after it! I worked for many years at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. It is a FANTASTIC place. My sister is an alumna of the College of New Rochelle. Women’s colleges are powerful places…but, the important thing to realize (which you have) is that they are not for every young woman. Kudos to you for having confidence in your college search process. Good luck in the journey!

Kudos to you on an excellent story and a strong follow-up to the comments you received. I experienced the very same incredulity over my decision to attend an all-women’s college from some of my friends, but I knew that Bryn Mawr was the right choice for me for many of the reasons that you noted (and simply from the positive vibe I felt after spending 24 hours on campus during the academic year while still in decision-mode). Bryn Mawr was the only all-women’s college to which I applied, but it spoke to me in numerous ways above and beyond my other choices, all of which were competitive schools. I had the opportunity to take advantage of several leadership positions in dormitory life while I was at Bryn Mawr, and I am 100% convinced that my overall academic and social experience there was what contributed to my landing a teaching position in a top school district right out of college. You will be fabulous no matter which college you choose, but I sure do hope it’s Bryn Mawr! Good luck!

Hannah, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to see a young woman from Louisiana pursuing women’s colleges. I am an alum from Mount Holyoke, but haven’t met many folks from Louisiana who were familiar with it or many similar Northeast colleges.

You honestly sound like a perfect fit for Mount Holyoke! So many women from there have gone into politics and had successful rewarding careers. It’s a great place to find out who you are, to try things out, and really focus on your education. Which is not to say that you give up men and parties for four years. On the contrary, there are plenty of options to meet young men and date, if you desire. But you can also choose to get to know your friends, pursue your interests, and get ready for life after college, whether that’s in another academic setting or in the world world.

I look forward to seeing you in Louisiana politics some years down the line!

I completely respect Hannah’s decision and I wish her good fortune in this stressful process. In my experience with women’s colleges (mainly Wellesley and Smith) I have found them to have a sort of “hot house” atmosphere. The students are even more coddled than your typical liberal arts college. This protective environment may have its value and it may nurture some women but really any women’s college is an anachronism in contemporary America.

I went to Wells College, which was a women’s college when I attended(it went coed 4 years ago). I got a chuckle from your friend Guy’s reaction to your choice to look at women’s colleges. I swear I heard exactly the same thing from many of my high school friends, both male and female. I didn’t go to Wells because I was looking to avoid men. It just happened to be the school that I liked the most. That it was a women’s college really was beside the point.

I had no idea that there were two extremely talented writers living down the street from me (the other one being your mother). As a freshman English teacher for at least 30 years, I would have been so very happy to have you show up in my first-year writing course. Your clear style and personal tone, succinct and assertive responses to criticism, and political sensibilities would have made my heart sing. Are you sure you don’t want to go to LSU?

You called out my comment asking about your grades. Honestly, I’m glad you’re confident, but that attitude—YIKES! “Statistics don’t lie?” Can you please say that in one of your college interviews?

I know I sound like I’m picking on you, and I probably sounded a lot like you 10 years ago, when I was applying to college. But I still feel like you’re really just trying to justify something that doesn’t need justifying. Smith, Wellesley, etc won’t be hurting if you decide not to apply. Good luck!

I don’t mean to be critical toward Hannah, but I AM just because I’m so critical of the perpetuation of the stereotype that going to a women’s college is a backdoor to a great education. Because it’s not. And it’s that attitude that creates a rift between people who go to the “statistically more difficult” schools in a consortium situation.

Also, re: the statistics don’t lie comment . . . That’s not true! The fact is, roughly only 50% of students applying to colleges are able to apply to women’s colleges and that, coupled with the fact that women’s colleges tend to be more self-selecting, means that you really can’t accurately compare the admissions rate of a Mount Holyoke to a Bates.

Finally, I do wish Hannah the best of luck—either at a women’s college or elsewhere. But all I’m saying is if she needs to justify it so much, maybe she’d be better off at a co-ed school where she could let her “raging heterosexual” flag fly.

Re Annabelle’s posts: I don’t think anyone who reads Hannah’s thoughtful essay and – especially – the many, many comments from women’s college alumnae could possibly walk away with a negative stereotype about the quality of the students at these institutions. On the contrary! For me, reading these posts has made me wish that I’d had the maturity and self-assurance at 16 to have been among the 2% who consider applying to women’s colleges. Perhaps Annabelle (contrary to stereotype) is a tiny bit insecure? I don’t read Hannah as attempting to “justify” her desire to apply to Smith, MHC, and the other excellent colleges in this category. She is simply saying that, all else being equal (which of course it never is), one has a better shot at getting into a school that admits 35 of every hundred applicants than one that only admits 20 of every hundred applicants. And in any event, that was hardly her primary criterion.

I think Annabelle’s final jab regarding Hannah’s sexual orientation is gratuitous and mean-spirited. I can’t help but consider who sounds more adult in this exchange between a sixteen-year-old high school senior and a twenty-six-year-old woman . . . .

how did you not respond to the contradiction between describing yourself as a feminist and feeling like this:
“At all-women’s colleges there is no fear of your intellect seeming unattractive. In fact, at these institutions women aren’t afraid that voicing their opinions may poorly represent their gender.”
if you’re really a feminist, you wouldn’t have those fears…..

@confused – Who made you the feminist police? There’s no necessary contradiction in anything Hannah’s said:

1. “At all-women’s colleges there is no fear of your intellect seeming unattractive.”
Whatever confidence a young woman may have in her abilities, she cannot control the reactions of others. It is indeed possible that some men at a mixed-sex college may find outspoken intellectual women unattractive, but the culture of women’s-only colleges means that this isn’t an issue for students there.

2. “In fact, at these institutions women aren’t afraid that voicing their opinions may poorly represent their gender.”
Is this not an observation that women’s colleges may attract largely feminist students who aren’t afraid of speaking out? By contrast, mainstream colleges are more likely to have some female students who don’t call themselves feminists and who have constrained beliefs about what’s appropriate and their rights to speak. Hannah’s talking about other women’s fears, not her own.